Briefs: Ljubicic, Federer reach Nasdaq-100 Open final

Tennis

Sixth seed to face defending champion Sunday: Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia closed with a 141 mph ace, his fastest serve of the day, and advanced to his first final in the United States by beating David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-1, 6-2 Friday at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Fla.

The sixth-seeded Ljubicic, who lost a mere five points on his serve, will face top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland in Sunday's final. Defending champion Federer beat 11th-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 6-1, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

Today's women's final will be an all-Russia matchup of fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova and No. 12 Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Tatiana Golovin of France is expected to be sidelined from four to six weeks because of injuries to her left ankle. The 18-year-old tore ligaments in the third set of Thursday's semifinal loss to Sharapova.

Boxing

Hamed pleads guilty: Former featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, 31, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in Sheffield, England, in connection with a May accident that left one man seriously injured.

Sentencing was set for May 12, and Hamed could face jail time. His last bout was in May 2002.

Soccer

Major League Soccer season opens: The defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy hosts the New England Revolution tonight in Carson, Calif., in a rematch of last season's MLS Cup.

In other matches on the first day of the MLS season, the Chicago Fire visits FC Dallas and the Kansas City Wizards host the Columbus Crew.

College football

Booty has surgery: John David Booty, the leading candidate to replace quarterback Matt Leinart at USC, had surgery to repair a bulging disk in his back and will miss the rest of spring practice.

Olympics

Mayer sues IOC president: Ex-Austria skiing coach Walter Mayer, who fled this year's Turin Olympics after a doping raid, sued the International Olympic Committee president, Jacques Rogge, for defamation.

Mayer's suit came two days after he lodged a similar suit against Dick Pound, the World Anti-Doping Agency chief.

Mayer's lawyer, Herwig Hasslacher, said Rogge was being sued after claiming Mayer "organized" doping by the Austrians.

A court date was not immediately set.

Wrestling

Iowa State hires Olympic champion Sanderson as coach: Cael Sanderson, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist, was hired as Iowa State's coach, taking over a program Bobby Douglas ran for 14 seasons.

Sanderson, 26, was a four-time NCAA champion at Iowa State from 1999 to 2002 and is the only champion in NCAA history to finish his career undefeated (159-0). Douglas retired Wednesday and will stay at Iowa State as an assistant athletic director.

Horse racing

Barbaro risks perfect record: Barbaro, who is 4 for 4, is listed as an 8-5 favorite on the morning line for today's $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach.

Softball

Chico State officials cancel season: Chico State has canceled the remaining 20 games of its season because of an off-campus party that resulted in a 17-year-old recruit being admitted to a hospital last weekend for alcohol overdose. She reportedly was released to her father five hours later.

"This is not the kind of behavior we expect," athletic director Anita Barker said.

School officials also barred the 12 players who reportedly attended the party from the team and are considering additional disciplinary action.

Short-track speedskating

South Koreans dominate: Ahn Hyun-soo won the men's 1,500-meter final and Jin Sun-yu took the women's event, leading the way for South Korea on the first day of the world championships in Minneapolis.

Seattle's Apolo Ohno is not competing in the event.

Seattle Times news services